AI Screening Leaves 22- to 27-Year-Old Graduates Facing 5.7% Unemployment
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Sep 25
AI Screening Leaves 22- to 27-Year-Old Graduates Facing 5.7% Unemployment
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Sep 25
Summary
5.7% unemployment among college graduates ages 22 to 27 in June 2026 underscores how AI-driven hiring is making it harder for recent graduates to even reach interviews.
66% of recruiters planned to increase AI use in pre-screening this year, while 81% of job seekers said they used or planned to use AI, pushing more of the earliest hiring steps into automated systems.
42% underemployment among young graduates shows the strain extends beyond joblessness, with students reporting dozens of applications for only a handful of interviews and little human feedback.
16.5% of spring job descriptions required AI skills, up from 10.5% last fall, yet nearly one-third of graduating seniors said those skills would matter little or not at all to their careers.
NY Fed research says AI may be contributing to weaker hiring but is not the main driver, even as faster AI adopters hire more overall and often favor senior roles over entry-level jobs.